Hoist The Flag!
by Elielephant
Summary: ...Where'd my shirts go...?


Once upon a time, my beta and I had a long discuss of One Piece male characters and we noticed that a few have the habit of going shirtless or just being shirtless all the time. Then, the conversation took a turn to a few characters we wanted to see shirtless, Law being the number one hunk. Then, on a random day, we started a somewhat random co-op story.

This has my character Ameria, but also her character, Mina. Mina is the OC of my beta's, praeses, story Phantoms of the Underworld. To sum up Mina, she is the opposite of Ameria and she had a Zoan type Devil Fruit that allows her to take the form of a Harpy Eagle. Google the epicness. I just wanted to give you a little background on her character (and also recommend you read her story), cheers! :)

Disclaimer: One Piece does not belong to us, but my OCs and mine and praeses OCs are hers.

* * *

Hoist The Flag!

The morning was crisp, the smell of mountain dew still clinging to the ground as campers woke from slumber by the smell of breakfast food wafting through the air. The smell and atmosphere may have been welcoming, but the thoughts of what lied ahead of them for another day was not a fun image at all.

Every year in the large city of Sabondy, the local high school would send their students to a getaway camp for a week because of the evil day called April 1st: Prankster's Paradise. After what happened in '82 when a flour-bomb exploded, which broke every window and caused the school to be shut down for a month for intense repair and cleaning, which had cost thousands, the school needed to do something. So, they shipped away their students for an 'educational' week at Camp Newgate far, far away from the city. Then, they didn't have to worry about the school and also property damage, since to this very day no one knows who caused the Flour Bomb of '82. Though, Vice Principle Garp suspected a certain boy named Gol D. Roger, but nothing could be proven.

So, since the school couldn't pin the cost on anyone, they sucked it up and sent their students away. This did help calm the school's nerves; it only caused friendships to form, for better or for worse. Such as little Ameria and her new friend Mina.

Ameria, who was always with her gang commonly known as the Straw Hats, got caught up in many misadventures landing them in detention. Their most current one being when they completely trashed the records room due to the fact that their beloved friend Robin had been false accused of something that was written in the permanent records. It had been a success to wipe it clean, but they still got caught, which got them three full weeks of detention. Ameria had known Mina from detention, but never spoke to her since the other girl seemed like a loner. Though, at camp this year, Principle Sengoku made sure that all in the Straw Hat gang were separated, which led Ameria to bunk with Mina.

Mina never really had any friends to hang out with during school hours and the camping trip was no exception. However, she never really minded being alone during the trip because of the simple fact that she loved being outdoors. But, this year was a bit different since Mina had recognized Ameria from detention. While Ameria had the Straw Hats to drag her into detention, Mina was there because of her bad temper. It was usually Sakazuki who gave her detention. Sakazuki, who was the head of campus security, often found Mina skipping classes and getting into fist fights with her fellow students. It was normally Mina who won the fights, but often times, she never started them herself. It was students like Bellamy who taunted her about being an orphan that felt her wrath. Although, she would admit that she would start the fights herself sometimes.

Her penchant for getting into fights left quite a few of the more sane students afraid of her. Rumors travel quickly in schools after all.

That is why Ameria was slightly intimidated by the other girl at first. She didn't know what could set Mina off at any minute since she was known for her bad temper. But, once Ameria sucked up that anxious feeling and talked to the other girl, she got to see a side of Mina no one probably ever saw, which was something special indeed.

"_Oh~!_" Ameria awed as she walked alongside her newfound friend, making their way to the dining hall for breakfast. "Your Grandpa was a hunter! Daddy is one, too," then she pointed to the woods where a shadowed outline waved kindly to her. "He followed me because of this guy that's been picking on me for awhile. Mum said it had to do with a crush. He's rather protective, you see..." and she looked to the treeline again where he father scared poor Coby and Helmeppo to death, their souls peeking out of open mouths as their skin turned grey when he growled like a wolf.

Mina quirked an eyebrow at Coby and Helmeppo's reaction. She knew that they were cowards but she didn't think they were _that_ bad. She felt no pity for them whatsoever though, but she did nod her head in acknowledgment of her friend's father.

"Grandpa was like that too," Mina spoke fondly of her grandfather. "So he enrolled me in self-defense classes for my ninth birthday when his health started to get to him."

"That sounds better than what Daddy did to me and my siblings..." Ameria cringed violently at the thought of...the _camping_ trips. She then gulped, using the action as a mechanism to swallow the bad memories. "It wasn't pretty; let's leave it at that."

Mina eyed the other girl oddly, but then a small smile worked its way to her lips. "If you say so..." She chuckled lightly.

Mina was very happy to have found a friend during the camping trip. It was nice to have someone to talk to. Though she was a bit worried that her bad reputation might rub off on Ameria, but if anyone tried to pick a fight with her, they'd have to deal with an angry Mina first. It didn't help that today was April Fool's day and in a school like theirs, something bad was bound to happen. Whether it was a joy buzzer or someone sending underwear up the flagpole, it was only a matter of time before the students unleashed Hell upon the camp.

"And a crush, huh?" Mina asked before a grin formed on her face. "Who's the lucky guy? Someone from the Straw Hats?"

"Hardly," Ameria rolled her eyes, annoyed. "He's more Luffy's friend than mine. His name is Trafalgar Law. He helped Luffy out in a pinch before and he's been hanging out with us. And to him, I'm an easy target for his teasing," she murmured with pink tinted cheeks then glanced over to Mina before turning away, blushing completely red. "But it's not like I like him! He picks on me! You don't like someone that puts fake spiders in your backpack as a joke!"

"He's not very original," Mina mused. "Trafalgar... Now, that rings a few bells for me. Oh, right, I have Biology with the guy. He's so creepy. He dissected his frog without so much as flinching. Actually, I seem to remember him smiling during that lab."

Mina may not be the easiest person to freak out, in fact it would take something akin to a naked person running down the halls of the school while being chased rabid squirrels to even make her so much as blink, but seeing someone grin widely as they dissected a frog was a bit creepy in her book.

"That is creepy," Ameria agreed, shuddering at the thought. She was lucky she didn't have classes with that guy and that her time with him outside of school was minimal.

The two then arrived at the dining hall. It was a large building; well, it sort of had to considering it had to fit the entire school in it that looked to be fashioned after a log cabin. Apparently it was supposed to give that rustic look, but the outside was much different than the inside. The inside was chaos; complete and utter chaos. The Prankster's Paradise had come full blast this year and food was already flying and painting the walls and floors. Eggs were exploding in poor girls' faces and milk was being dumped over snickering boys' heads. The counselors couldn't control anyone, especially those that had started the day of war, the Straw Hat gang.

A bead of sweat trickled down the side of Ameria's cheek as she laughed somewhat sheepishly towards Mina. "They... They can be a bit crazy," she admitted and started to walk into the battlefield. "But you—"

Her sentence was completely stopped as two screams of bloody murder pierced the air.

The clanks of metal buckets skipped across the floor, as the two girls stood in the doorway, screeching their heads off. The dinning hall went silent as everyone looked towards Ameria and Mina, both having syrup thickly coat their hair and slowly drip down to their shoulders.

Then a chuckle broke the silence, and all heads turned to the nonchalant figure of Trafalgar smirking leisurely where he sat among snickering friends. "A two for one price," he drawled out smoothly, glancing at the girls deviously. "I like it."

Then the dinning hall went up with a roar of laughter, even the Straw Hats bellowed away, with the exception of Sanji. They all knew it was a harmless prank, hell, even Ameria knew that; much worse could have happened. But, being laughed at in front of everyone, the entire school, including her best friends caused her cheeks to blister beet red with humiliation and she dashed from the area as quickly as she possibly could.

Mina, however, was livid. Absolutely and positively livid. She felt the syrup seeping into her brown hair and she did not like the feeling. Picking up a bucket that had only landed a few feet away, she tossed the sucker fast and hard while aiming for Law's head. Now, there was only one class Mina never skipped and that was gym class. Dodgeball was her favorite game to play and she often carried the team she was on to victory. However she hadn't counted on the bucket's aerodynamics throwing it off course, so all it managed was to hit the person sitting next to Law, Shachi. The poor guy didn't even know what hit him, but the ginger ended up with a nice bucket hat. Too bad it was still very sticky.

Glaring daggers at the still smirking Law, Mina turned on her heel to stalk from the dining hall in order to find her friend. She also needed to get the syrup out of her hair as quickly as she possibly could.

"I swear I'm going to murder him," Mina muttered to herself as she trekked after Ameria.

Luckily she hadn't gotten all that far and was still in Mina's line of sight as she emerged from the dining hall.

Ameria had dashed to their cabin, sprinting as fast as her little feet could carry her. It was already bad enough that her friends laughed at her when Law put fake spiders in her backpack to scare the living daylights out of her, but this was ten times worse. It was the entire school that laughed at her, strangers, people she didn't know. It was mortifying. The humiliation it brought her was unbelievable. How her mother thought that Trafalgar Law had a _crush _on her was beyond understanding. He purposely did that to her in front of everyone, the whole school. The only thing she didn't know was why he hated her so much to treat her in such a way.

"This... This really sucks..." she whispered on the verge of tears, the echoing of laughter still pounding in the background. Though, she would not let those tears show because Mina walked into the room.

Mina was silent; her rage had quelled a little when she saw her friend that close to tears. She was a bit unsure of what to do in a situation like this since this was her first real friend she'd had in awhile but, she knew that she had to say something.

"I threw one of the buckets at his head," Mina said evenly as she crossed her arms. "I kinda missed though... Let's just get this syrup out of our hair before it dries. It'll be a pain to get it out otherwise."

But before Ameria could even answer the other girl, a knock came to their cabin door.

Mina's rage bubbled over again and she sent a heavy scowl at the door. Going to answer it, she muttered under her breath, "If anyone's here to say anything about what happened I swear I'll—" She opened the door and became silent when a large man in hunting gear loomed like an evil shadow in the doorway.

Mina stood stock still at the sight of the man in their doorway. Recognizing the man as Ameria's father, she put a weak, yet amicable smile on her face. The look in his eyes was all too familiar for her. It was the same look that her Grandfather used to get when someone made her cry.

"Hello," Mina was being polite here. "Um, you can come in."

With that, the brunette stepped aside to let the man come in.

Burgrate stalked calmly over to his daughter, placing hands on her shoulders, which he took away instantly when syrup was transferred to his skin. Growling as he rubbed the sticky substance between his thumb and forefingers, he then used his free hand to pull a hunting knife from his belt, which vaguely resembled something that belonged in the hands of a serial murderer.

"Here," he grunted gruffly in his deep wild man voice as he grabbed his daughter's hand and placed the knife in her open palm.

Mina blinked blankly at the scene while Ameria had a mild panic attack.

"D—Dad!" Ameria screeched in disbelief, her blue eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. "He's a kid!"

Burgrate blinked slowly, his face never changing from its emotionless, stone cold expression. "So," was all he said.

Mina smirked widely in amusement. She could actually start to like this man.

Ameria's jaw hung open as her brows furrowed together with annoyance. "I can't kill him!" She snapped harshly, and her father opened his mouth to say something in return, but she cut him off. "You can't kill him either!"

Burgrate mumbled curses under his breath, explaining that he could indeed kill the boy that almost made his baby cry for it was in the D.A.D.D, Dad's Against Daughters Dating, handbook.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Ameria screeched, the words coming out quickly, her rage visible as steam poured from her ears. "And you're not even supposed to be there anyway! Mum forbade you, didn't she!"

Burgrate was silent for a mere moment. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her."

Ameria groaned in frustration before shoving the hunting knife back into her father's hand and then quickly grabbed Mina by the hand. "Let's go take a shower," she grumbled, irritated at her father.

Making their way to the bathrooms, they had the entire place to themselves for the moment thanks to the activities such as rowing and hiking taking place after breakfast. The shower stalls were tiled a pale blue and each one had a white shower curtain for privacy. Though, sometimes the curtains and thick walls were never enough to keep out peeping Toms, but there had been a rumor going around Camp Newgate that boys caught in the act of almost spying were found beat up in piles by the flagpole.

_Huh, wonder who that is_, Ameria sarcastically thought as she violently scrubbed the shampoo against her syrup coated black locks. Though, at least she could be thankful that her father was looking out for her.

"I think your Dad had the right idea," Mina suddenly said over the sound of running water, also was having a bit of trouble getting the syrup out of her hair.

"What?!" Ameria was stunned, her eyes opening wide at the thought of committing an _illegal_ act over spilled syrup. "We're not killing Law! He may be a jerk, but he doesn't deserve to die."

"I don't mean we kill him," Mina sighed as she rolled her brown eyes. "I mean we just get back at him somehow."

"How do we do that?" Ameria calmed down some after the idea of killing Law was off the table.

"Well, I can go find some snakes," Mina sounded devious. "And then put them in his bed. Non-venomous of course. Or spiders. A little poetic justice never hurt anyone. But, maybe you've got a better idea. You said he's been hanging around with Luffy a lot, so you probably know him better than me."

"Hmm..." Ameria hummed aloud, trying to piece together memories of Law that would help, but nothing came to mind. "He's a complicated puzzle," she admitted sheepishly. "I feel as if we should spy on him a bit and watch his habits. My... My Dad does that sometimes."

"Maybe he can help us then," Mina perked up at the idea.

"That... That actually isn't a bad idea," Ameria nodded her head in agreement. "Despite the fact that you kinda saw him this morning, he is a master of hiding in the shadows."

Mina started to grin wickedly at all the evil she could do with Ameria's father on their side. "This is going to be the best 'educational' camp week, ever," she chuckled darkly.

Ameria laughed lightly, a nervous tone in her voice as she mumbled, "Oh dear."

~...~

In the brush beside the camp's local pond, the girls laid down on either side of the muscular man in camouflage, looking through the leaves to get a little peak of their target. Law was close, wading in the water at his ankles as he watched his two friends Penguin and Shachi have a fight over something. What that something was yet to be determined, but ultimately unimportant.

Ameria and Mina's complete focus was on finding Law's weakness, but both were having trouble with getting any sort of idea.

"He... He's just too calm!" Ameria said a little too loudly, making her father cover her mouth with a large hand so they didn't get caught. He sorta wasn't allowed here; he already got in trouble with Head Counselor Edward about it... Three times.

"I know," Mina grumbled irritably. "If I ever get my hands on him, I'm going to wipe that smirk right off his face. Painfully."

Burgrate scoffed lightly, his voice barely even audible against the wind. "You two need to have a closer look then," was all he said.

Ameria eyed her father in confusion then removed his hand from her mouth. "What'd you mean?"

Calmly, he pointed to the target. "What makes him different from every other boy here?"

Mina looked at the target and his friends, observing them closely. Then a light bulb went off, "He's wearing a shirt compared to the other boys."

Interesting. A little self-conscious now was he? A plan worked its way through her mind. Oh, and was it ever a devilish little plan.

"I've got a plan," Mina smirked at Ameria. "Do you know what cabin he's staying in?"

Before Ameria even got the chance to answer, Burgrate said, "Cabin 440."

That wasn't the least bit surprising to Mina that he knew the answer to that one. However, Ameria sent a disapproving look towards her father.

The brunette however, was calculating a plan in her head for a moment; going over all the camp activities. She had planned to just skip them all and run off into the woods, but she decided to go once she made friends with Ameria. As the plan clicked into place, Mina's shoulders started to shake in silent laughter.

"Oh, he's going to get it now," Mina grinned darkly. "We're going to steal his shirts."

~...~

They conducted their plan during lunch, knowing for a fact that little old Law wouldn't be anywhere near his cabin, but rather in the dining hall. Mina had devised a flawless plan, how and what to do with the shirts. Plus, a certain protective father was watching from the trees like a hawk. It was foolproof, they would never get caught; especially since the camp never did a head count. They were probably supposed to, but with students from Sabondy High, it was unlikely.

So, in truth, there was nothing to worry about whatsoever. Yet, Ameria found herself panicking. "Revenge is nice and all," she admitted in a tiny whisper as she followed Mina while sneaking through the vacant cabin area for the boys. "But going into enemy territory is dangerous!"

Mina paused briefly to glance over her shoulder, a stern look in her brown eyes. "This is the only way to knock Law off his feet," she stated bluntly. "He's got everywhere in the palm of his hand, we witnessed that this morning. But, his own cabin? He'll never think we'd have the guts to do it." She smirked before trekking back into her state of revenge. "This is the ultimate attack if we are right!"

Ameria, though, was still slightly paranoid about the idea. "Can't we just do the snake or spider thing instead...?" she timidly asked.

"Nope," Mina rebutted. "This is the perfect plan." And she slowly opened the door to Cabin 440.

Ameria flinched at the sound of the creaky screen door opening, and she was half tempted to stay put, but Mina wouldn't allow that. With a small grunt, Mina grabbed Ameria by the wrist and jerked her inside the cabin where they proceeded to load all of Law's shirts into a garbage bag a certain sneaky father had swiped.

Mina was having the time of her life, mumbling all the things she would do to get back at that bastard that got syrup all over their hair and also for almost making her friend cry. Ameria, still, didn't have a good feeling about this; something just wasn't right.

Then in the near distance, she heard a bird call. It was so accurate that someone none the wiser would think it was an actual bird, but Ameria knew better. It was her father, and it was a warning signal. Law was coming.

"He's coming!" Ameria hissed in warning.

Mina nodded silently and with that, she shoved the last shirt into the bag and closed the dresser drawer she had been raiding. She had been half tempted to take a pair of his underwear for good measure, but alas, there wasn't enough time.

"Out the window for us then," Mina said with a grin as she went to the window at the back of the cabin. But not before grabbing Ameria by the wrist to drag her as Mina walked.

Opening the window with ease, she tossed the bag of shirts out first. It took some squishing of the bag in order to flatten it enough to get through.

"Go on," Mina told Ameria.

Ameria hesitated for a minute before climbing out of the narrow opening. The windows were just narrow enough for two girls to jump out of. Mina followed shortly and even closed the window from the outside. Keeping low and out of sight, they heard the door creak open in the cabin. Mina judged the distance from the wall of the cabin to a different one. They'd have to be extra sneaky with their escape into the woods.

"Alright, since we don't have much time before jerk-ass in there figures out that something's up, we're going to have to stop at our cabin for a minute and then move to a different cabin," Mina whispered to Ameria. "I know someone who'll hide us for the time being. He's a Senior. But for right now, stick close to the wall and dash for 439 there."

Ameria did as she was told, but didn't like that they'd have to hide from Law now.

~...~

They made their way slowly back to their cabin to avoid being caught, but once it changed into the girl's side of the camp, they both made a mad dash for it. Opening their door and rushing into it, the girls panted heavily. Steadying their hands on their knees, they took a moment to catch their breath. Mina didn't rest for long though. Letting the bag hit the floor of their cabin, she began to rummage through her things.

Ameria looked on curiously when the other girl just pulled a sewing kit from her bag and then strip her bed of its pink sheets. Mina absolutely hated the color pink and hated how that's how the camp told which sheets belonged to which gender. It was a bit sexist in her mind.

"Alright, grab anything you need," Mina told her friend. "And then we head to Cabin 18."

"That's in the Senior part though," Ameria pointed of, shifting nervously back and forth on her heels. "We can't go there. We'll be caught, we are Freshmen..."

Mina smiled. "Nope," She said. "See, all the Seniors are out right now. It's their turn to hike, but I know for a fact that he'll be there."

~...~

Dodging people was proving to be a bit harder than it seemed. A lot of Seniors seemed to be out and about even though they were supposed to be hiking. Apparently they skipped though... But, the trek to Cabin 18 proved to be successful and without much hesitation on Mina's part, she waltzed right on through the door. Ameria followed shortly.

"Hey lazy-ass," Mina greeted the young man on his bed.

"What?" A very confused boy in an orange cowboy hat said as he sat up. "Mina? What're you doing here?"

"Ameria, this is Portgas D. Ace," Mina introduced her skittish friend to the man. "Ace, this here is my new friend Ameria."

Ameria smiled weakly. "I know about Ace through Luffy; they're like brothers and all, but this is the first time we met in person..." She trailed off, looking to the side with pink tinted cheeks when she saw he was currently shirtless, and the view wasn't all the bad. Oh, her poor father was probably having a heart attack right now.

_And in the trees..._

Burgrate watched from this vantage point on a large tree branch that supported his weight, though sadly the poor twig clenched in his hand snapped in two as if it were a neck. "_Bastard_," he sneered like a wolf baring teeth.

_And back in Cabin 18_...

Swinging his legs to the floor, the currently shirtless young man took in the sight of a very flustered Ameria and smirked. "Luffy's talked a lot of his friends and that includes you, of course," Then he looked to Mina. "And good," Ace said. "Here I was afraid that little Mina would be all alone after I graduated."

Mina snorted. "The way your grades are, I'll be graduating before you," She rolled her eyes. "Now, mind helping us out a bit?"

Ace smirked widely. "This has to do with that whole syrup bucket right? The whole camp's been talking about it."

Mina scowled for a moment, her fist clenching tightly and Ameria felt humiliation go through her again, making her look down at her toes quickly.

"Yes," Mina ground out. "We're getting back at Trafalgar. You want in or not?"

"Sure," Ace said happily. "What can I help you with ladies?"

"I need two large sticks, preferably about your size, a gourd of some type, and a marker," Mina listed off her supplies of doom. "And by gourd I mean pumpkin."

"I'll see what I can do," Ace grinned before leaving.

Suddenly, all Ameria saw was pink as Mina threw a sheet at her.

"Start cutting out really girly things," Mina said as she sat next to the bag of shirts and pulled out a pair of scissors. "Unicorns, hearts, anything like that. We've got some redecoration to do."

Ameria nodded and did as she was told, cutting out anything girly that she could think of and also the idea Mina had given her. Though, her art skills weren't that great, she was able to get the point across with dozens of cut out hearts and flowers all around her feet. "There," she said, throwing away the scraps and then looked at Mina who had also finished her work. "Now... Mind telling me exactly what we are doing?"

Mina merely smirked evilly with a dark chuckle, "You'll see when Ace gets back."

~...~

Law grumbled as he made his way back to his cabin. Stupid Eustass, throwing his damn mashed potatoes at his shirt. Luckily, everyone was involved in a food war against two of the counselors to notice his misfortune. Poor Marco and Thatch, oh how he knew them well. But, they helped him escape the dining hall and go to the cabin and along his hike he heard a rather interesting bird... It sounded strange. Oh well, his main focus was getting a new shirt.

Stepping inside the cabin, he stripped the soiled shirt from his torso and tossed to the ground once the door was firmly shut. He didn't want anyone to see him. He was going through that awkward phase in his life and he felt rather..._puny_. Especially compared to Eustass who already had a lean muscular look, hell, even Penguin and Shachi didn't look as lanky as him. It was embarrassing and it caused him to be rather..._self conscious_. Though, he could easily hide it with a shirt on. No one seemed to question it so everything would be fine.

"_Hmph,_" he grunted, walking over to the drawers under his bed to replace his shirt, but when he opened it, he saw it was bare. He stared blankly at it, his hand hesitantly reaching out to touch bottom of the drawer. "S-shit..." he muttered; he knew he would get pranked sooner or later, but he didn't think _this_ would happen.

"_Law!_"

When his name was called he nearly jumped out of his skin, but he did not move from his spot and made sure his bare back was still facing Shachi as he cracked open the door.

"Come on!" Shachi snapped impatiently. "Everyone's going to the pond! And I wanna see Nami!"

"I—I—" He stuttered. "I can't..."

Shachi blinked in confusion and stepped further into the cabin and asked. "Why?"

"All...my shirts are missing..." Law slowly replied.

Shachi sighed heavily. "So what? You need to get over yourself."

Law shot a dark scowl to his friend. "Just let me borrow one of your shirts, dammit!"

"No way! I only brought enough for me and me alone," Shachi snapped and with two quick strides, he reached Law and latched a hand to his arm and began to pull. "Now come on, Penguin's waiting."

"B—But—!" He couldn't back out; he was being forced into this by his friend. He felt the humiliation swarming his gut and mechanically, he hugged his arms, hoping for the best.

~...~

Ace whistled as he strolled back to his cabin, admitting he took longer on purpose because while at the kitchen, he had to laugh at the hilarious sight of Marco and Thatch dressed head to toe in today's lunch special.

Though, now he was back on track and headed back to give Mina the things she wanted.

But then he was stopped when a bird with arrow piercing its heart landed at his feet. "Oi?"

Then, from the bushes came a man in hunting gear. He ignored the Senior and stalked over to his prey and picked it up. Then he glanced at Ace darkly. "Don't give me a reason to hunt you," and then walked away.

Ace blinked in confusion. "Judging from Luffy's stories, I'm guessing that's Ameria's dad."

~...~

When Ace walked through his cabin door lugging the items Mina requested, he was greeted with the sight of what he could only describe as a flag. A very girly flag made of shirts. Mina had arranged the shirts in a way that allowed them to be sewn together to create a very convincing flag. The shirts had not only been sewn together, but had little pink cut-outs of hearts and flowers sewn onto them as well. And it looked like Mina was almost done with the last few stitches. Ace turned to Ameria, who had been watching her friend sew together a flag.

"She stopped talking after she started sewing," Ameria told Ace.

"Really? I didn't even know she could sew," Ace admitted.

A sigh was heard as Mina set down her needle and thread.

"That was harder than I thought it would be," Mina sighed tiredly. She had been concentrating on the task at hand for a while now. "Ace back yet?"

"Right here," Ace chuckled.

Mina looked to the shirtless guy with a startled look. She hadn't even heard him come in. However, as soon as she saw the materials she needed, a grin took over.

"Ameria," Mina addressed the girl. "Know how to make a scarecrow?"

"Not really," Ameria admitted, looking at her friend in confusion. "Why...?

"Well, looks like you'll get 'Scarecrow 101' today," Mina ginned as she pulled out another shirt from the trash bag. This one Law would surely recognize since it was yellow with a weird smiley-face on it.

Now, Ace and Ameria were wondering how Mina knew how to make a scarecrow. And while it wasn't exactly rocket science to figure out that a scarecrow was just two sticks, a shirt, some sort of stuffing, and a head of sorts, Mina had learned how to make one from Hawkins during art class one year. While the boy was called "creepy" by most of the class, Mina had been oblivious to that and asked how he made all those miniature scarecrows that he placed in the teacher's rooms to scare the living daylights out of them. That year on Halloween, there were reports of bigger, much more frightening scarecrows popping out from behind corners in the school.

Using the scraps from the sheets to tie things together and a bit of help from Ace, Mina taught them how to make a scarecrow. Now all it needed were some leaves so they could stuff it. Those were easy enough to find considering that there were trees everywhere and no one seemed to bat an eyelash when the trees started to look a bit bare. And while Ameria stuffed the scarecrow full of leaves, Mina designed the face of the pumpkin. While she wasn't the best artist in the world, it worked with the toothy grin and big eyes. She wasn't going for artistic anyway.

"Where did you even get that pumpkin, Ace?" Ameria asked.

"The kitchen," Ace answered. "They had a bunch of them to use for pumpkin soup tonight."

"I don't even think the camp is trying to stop the food fights now," Mina deadpanned as she finished the pumpkin head.

When that was done, Mina grabbed a sheet of paper from Ace's backpack, which was out in the open, before he could stop her. Mina blinked at the image on the back while Ameria flushed a dark red while looking away quickly.

"I'm not even going to say anything," Mina gave the embarrassed Ace a dull look before stuffing it back in the bag.

Grabbing a different sheet this time, Mina scrawled out a note and pinned it to the front of the now finished scarecrow. It was only missing his head, but that was the last thing to go on.

"Alright, now all we need to do is find out where Law is now and get his attention somehow," Mina said as she pulled out Law's last shirt. "Looks like one of us is going to have to be bait, Ameria."

~...~

Ameria stood hidden within the treeline next to her father, clutching the piece of yellow fabric in her hands. She had been deemed the bait since Mina never really explained her master plan of what she wanted to do. Plus, after years of being in the Straw Hat gang, she was a master at the art of running-away-so-not-to-get-caught; she learned that from Usopp. But, she knew Law was extremely fast as well, she feared that she would screw up the plan completely if got caught.

"It'll be alright, baby," her father spoke up and patted her head gingerly. "Daddy's got his bow with him."

"Y—You can't shoot him, Dad..." Ameria said, a nervous bead of sweat trickling down her cheek.

"I would only shoot him in the leg," her father replied. "It'll slow him down."

"And get you sent to jail," Ameria added. "Again."

Her father grunted. "They can't hold me."

"And I'm done talking to you," Ameria grumbled; she needed to get back in the game.

Looking out, she saw Law using Shachi and Penguin as a shield while hugging his body to try and hide his lanky form. Even from her point, she could see the color red burning his cheeks as Eustass Kidd mercilessly taunted him with his group of minions, even Gabriella and Madeline were giggling at the poor boy. For a split second, it made her feel bad, but then she remembered this morning and what Ace said. Everyone was still talking about it, and from where she was the only people that notice Law at the moment were Kidd and his friends.

Tightening her grip on the shirt, she took a deep breath and stepped out into the light and then cried: "**Law!**" while waving the shirt over head at him.

Law snapped his head in her direction, his grey eyes opening wide when he saw the familiar article of clothing. His cheeks turning a deep crimson full of rage and he made a mad dash for her, while she sprinted to where Mina had told her to.

And thus the chase began. Law was quite fast on his feet, but Ameria was a bit faster. Also it helped that she was terrified out of her wits about what could possibly happen if he caught up to her. Sprinting through the camp and dodging her confused classmates left and right, Ameria took notice of which cabins were nearby. 231 was the one she needed according to Mina. Seeing it coming up, she made an abrupt turn, but slowed down just enough to avoid what was waiting for Law around the corner.

Law, however, didn't take any extra care when he turned the corner and paid the price. Unable to stop his mad dash, he ran headlong into the awaiting scarecrow and fell to the ground rather hard. Getting the wind knocked out of him, Law laid there a moment a bit dazed. Snapping back into his senses and sitting up, he noticed that the scarecrow was wearing one of his shirts and had a note pinned to the front of it. In messy black writing, the words: _hoisted high up on the mast our Jolly Roger flies_ greeted his gray eyes. He also took notice of the odd symbols that signed the note. It was a crude drawing of a bird and ghost.

It was a clue where to find them. It took a moment for Law to piece it together in his head, but it was fairly apparent that they were near the flagpole. Hauling himself to his feet, he knew that he wouldn't catch up with Ameria now, but if the flagpole was where they were, he'd catch up soon enough.

Speaking of Ameria, she had made it safely to Mina. The brunette was indeed at the flagpole and had hoisted her homemade flag up high. It was a beautiful flag and it was already fluttering in the breeze. Taking a step back, Mina admired her work and sent a mock salute up to the flag. Ameria was out of breath to say the least and resting her hands on her knees.

"Excellent work," Mina praised her friend. "He'll be here soon enough once he figures out the clue."

"He's pissed," Ameria panted. "I thought he'd catch me."

"As long as you're with me there's no way he'll catch you now," Mina grinned widely. "Now, let's hide."

Mina and Ameria hid next to a cabin and waited for Law to show up. In the meantime though, a lot of people had congregated around the flagpole to admire their handiwork. Good, there was an audience. After another minute or so, Law showed up.

He stared slack-jawed up at the flag. He hadn't expected them to pull a prank like this one. And the thing was there was one shirt up on the flag that hadn't been redecorated with pink shapes. It was one of his yellow smiley-faced shirts so that meant everyone who looked at the flag knew whose shirts they were. It was mortifying for poor Law. And it didn't help as Eustass got the entire school to chant at him, saying things he rather not have repeated, and while they all stared at his exposed body. This was the ultimate form of humiliation.

"Well now, I wonder who could have possibly done this?" A very pleased voice said.

Law nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Mina's voice. He hadn't even heard her come up to him. Snapping his head to the grinning brunette, he started to glare at her when he saw his shirt in her grasp.

"This is what happens when you almost make my friend cry and mess up my hair," Mina said darkly. "Do either one again and next time it'll be your underwear up there."

And with that, Mina turned to hightail it back towards the pond. Mina had already told Ameria to meet her back by the pond because the plan wasn't done quite yet. There was one last thing on the agenda. It was more personal revenge for Mina, but still, she couldn't wait.

Now, if Law was paying any attention to Mina as he chased after her, he would've noticed that she wasn't even wearing any shoes. And if he knew the first thing about Mina, it was that she was extremely fast on her feet without her shoes. Right now, Mina was in no danger of being caught by the guy. In fact, she wasn't even full out sprinting back towards the pond. Lithely dodging her classmates, counselors, and anything else that needed dodging, the pond came back into sight. Slowing down some so Law would think that he'd be able to catch up to her, Mina ran down the small dock that the camp had built onto the pond.

Law was just mere feet away from catching up with Mina when she ran onto the dock. But what he didn't count on was Mina stepping off to the side of the dock while he ran past her. Their eyes meeting as Law tried to slow down to stop, Mina pushed his bare shoulders so he lost his balance and fell into the water with a splash.

"Do you think that was a little…too much?" Ameria questioned as Mina headed back to shore, laughing all the way.

"No way," Mina shook her head. "He deserved it. Weren't you the one that said he's been teasing you for awhile now, anyway?"

Ameria pressed her lips into a thin of thought and watched as a soaked Law scrambled out of the cold lake water and out to the small dock. Sitting on his knees, he hugged his form for warmth, his cheeks still blistering pink as he avoided all eye contact with the girls and focused on his friends running to his aid.

"Um..." Ameria then suddenly spoke up. "Would it been an inappropriate time to saw that he looks kinda cute when vulnerable?"

Mina cocked her head to the side, much like a bird would when observing the shivering boy. Then she smirked. "Nope!" She then turned on her heel, leaving her evil deed at that, but not before shoving the last shirt in her possession to a passing Penguin.

~...~

From the tree tops, Burgrate saw the entire scheme unfold, and even though the girls could not see him as they walked away from the pond, he gave them a thumbs up. "Good job," he praised.

"_Oi! You!_"

Burgrate snapped his head to the forest floor where he saw none other that Head Counselor, Edward Newgate, the large man pointing a finger at him with a deadly scowl.

"I _told you to leave! You scare the kids! Your daughter is fine, so get over it!_"

Burgrate glared darkly at the Head Counselor. "Lies," was all he said as he took off into the trees.


End file.
